Hello, Aussie! Long time, no see.

I have visited your shores a few times before on various friends and family trips over the years – but this time round was extra special, because it was the first time travelling overseas with a partner.

EDIT: Well, in the time since our Melbourne trip in November and publishing this blog post, we have broken up. But for the sake of giving you readers an honest & authentic account of my Melbourne experience – and because we did have a great time here! – I have decided to keep the blog post as-is. 😊

Back to it…

He was going for a work conference here in Melbourne, so I took the opportunity to tag along too and embark on a sight-seeing and shopping trip. Woo!

Funnily enough I had been to Melbourne once before – very briefly – for my own work trip 2.5 years ago. It was good to be back!

So, without further ado, here is the low-down of what I got up to on my 5 day Melbourne adventure:

Day 1

After a 4am taxi pick-up and a very bumpy flight, we arrived in Melbourne around 10am.

We stayed at the Milano Serviced Apartments which is pretty central and in walking distance to many sights and attractions (thanks for the free hotel room upgrade to a massive family suite, guys!)

That night we went for a wander out for dinner and came across the bustling Hardware Lane – which offered a variety of steak and Italian restaurants. Outside each restaurant, there were salespeople standing by a big menu board, selling the passers-bys on their dishes and enticing them in the door (Mainly with free garlic bread and 10% off the menu… just the way I like it).

So we haggled for free sh*t (you’ll learn lots of haggling skills in Egpyt 😉 ) and settled on a place that specialised in steak. There, I actually tried kangaroo for the first time! And boy, it was surprisingly very delicious.

….And yes, we ended up with lots of free stuff! Such as free first drink each (we chose whiskeys), free garlic bread, and a free crème brulee. That’s what I’m talking about!

Day 2

This was the first of 3 days of conference for my (now ex)partner, so I went for a solo sight-seeing outing.

After slapping on my walking shoes, I visited….

• The Old Melbourne Gaol (and got arrested in the old police watch house – fun times). Here’s us getting marched down through the old police watchhouse:

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• Parliament Building
• Eureka Skydeck – I went up 88 stories to get a spectacular view of the city:

• Hotel Windsor
• Hosier Lane – for some electic street art:

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Day 3

Today was my designated shopping day!

After taking the scenic route via Docklands to get some pics (as you do), I headed to South Wharf for some cheap outlet shopping at the DFO South Wharf Outlet Centre.

Honestly, I was going to head to some other shopping malls too, but by the time I had finished at DFO my feet were killing me. So an uber back to the hotel it is!

That night, I joined my partner at a dinner with people from his conference at a restaurant in the Crown (kinda like SkyCity in Auckland, NZ – except on an even bigger scale!!). We had beautiful (and free) buffet dinner… with endless top ups of wine. #score

Check out the stunning indoor Christmas décor:

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Day 4

This morning I visited the Queen Victoria Market, which is a must-see when in Melbourne.

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Before heading on the train to….

Visit my friend, Kat! (yes – the Kat who I met on my UK trip + did the Egypt trip with).

Navigating the Melbourne train system, I headed up north to the suburb of Northcote to visit Kat and enjoy an afternoon of food and wine. (Can you tell I like wine??) 😉

That night we went back into the city for boozy night out on the town with much dancing!

Day 5

On our last day in Melbourne, my partner and I had an explore around the city together. Visiting Bourke Street Mall, heading over to South Bank, and having a nosy in some places in between.

Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to take a train out to St Kilda to go see the penguins – which we were planning to do – but hey, next time!

I’m just grateful that I was able to have this very spontaneous little trip in the first place 😊

We had an awesome time, and although our time together as a couple has since come to and end, I do believe I will be back to Melbourne in due course. More Aussie adventures await!